


Graveyard Whistling

by RoseByAnyOtherName17



Series: The Distance [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Anger, Angst, Anxiety, Cuddling, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 06:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8834038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseByAnyOtherName17/pseuds/RoseByAnyOtherName17
Summary: Derek knows he can't lose it in the middle of the goddamn library. He knows this, but if Scott doesn't leave he might just shove a shelf over onto him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> We're getting there ;) I'm having a lot of fun writing this. Hope y'all are liking it!

Stiles drove down to Berkeley to visit the campus and Lydia, and to ask about transferring there in the spring semester. “I missed the deadline for fall,” he explained to Derek as he shrugged on a flannel, despite the heat outside. Derek looked away as Stiles ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up even more than it already did. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching Stiles move around the room as he got ready to go. “And I just want to be home for a little while. Maybe get a job, spend some time with my dad.”

 

“It’s probably not a bad idea,” Derek agreed, a little selfishly. He liked being with Stiles every day. He thought that Stiles was probably beginning to suspect it, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. They both needed something good like this.

 

Stiles pocketed his phone and turned to face him. “You ready to go?”

 

Derek was caught off guard. “You want me to?”

 

“Well, yeah.” Stiles grinned. “I thought maybe we could ask the course counselors if you could do some online courses, if you wanted, and Lydia’s been looking at housing for the three of us.”

 

“The—the three of us?”

 

Stiles bit his lip. “I just…you know, you seem happier than you ever have in all the time I’ve known you, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got something to do with it. I know you make me feel a lot better, just being around. And…I mean, I’m not going to _not_ go if you don’t come too, because that’d be pretty unfair to both of us, but maybe it could be good, get you out into society again, though I know you could do that here too, and wow, I really should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”

 

Derek got to his feet and put a hand over Stiles’ mouth, grinning when his eyes went wide. “And here I was thinking you’d gotten over the talking-to-fill-the-silence thing,” Derek said.

 

Stiles mumbled something unintelligible behind his palm.

 

“I’ll meet you downstairs, yeah? I need to grab a few things.”

 

Stiles nodded and turned around without another word, looking thoroughly confused.

 

**

 

It was only a few hours to Berkeley and they arrived by lunchtime. Lydia met them at one of the dining halls and bought their lunch. “So I set an appointment up for both of you with my counselor,” she said matter-of-factly, getting straight to it. “She usually doesn’t do these kinds of things, but I’m pretty close with her daughter and she kind of owes me. It’s nothing definitive,” she added to Derek, and he was pretty sure Stiles had called her while he was getting ready to go to panic about what he’d said. “But she’ll take you through your options and you can decide if you’re interested. And if not, well, at least now you know what’s going on.”

 

“Thanks Lydia,” Derek said sincerely. “I’ve kind of wanted to get back into school for awhile, it just never seemed like the right time.”

 

Stiles looked at him in surprise. “You went to college?”

 

“NYU,” Derek told him. “I’ve still got all of my credit hours.”

 

Stiles blinked at him, giving Lydia the opportunity to go on. “Alright, well I’ve got a class at one, so I’ll take you guys there before that. Then we can go look at some of the duplexes near campus? I’ve been checking them out and there are a couple of good ones.”

 

“Sounds good,” Derek said when Stiles didn’t.

 

The course counselor spoke with Stiles first about enrolling and what it would take to transfer. Derek listened through the door as she walked Stiles through the transfer process, answering his (many) questions and assuring them that all of his scholarships and grants would be moved over.

 

At the end, she asked him a question. “Why transfer in the first place?”

 

Stiles hesitated, and through the door Derek could hear his heartbeat pick up. “I want to be closer to my family,” he said finally.

 

To his surprise, it took less time sort Derek out than it took Stiles. “Why online?” the older woman asked when he had settled into the chair across from her.

 

“I’m not a very social person,” Derek said honestly. “There are only a few people I’m really comfortable with, and it took a long time with them.”

 

“Classes could help,” she suggested, but he shook his head with a small smile. She smiled back and went about finding his old file and signing him up for new courses, to start in the next few months.

 

Lydia had given them instructions to her dorm, where she met them. “Ready?” Derek wondered how she could still look flawless with her hair in a messy bun and loose clothes, like she hadn’t bothered that morning. They got into her car and were at the first place in less than ten minutes. It was one of those that the door was open for people to come and go as they please, so Lydia led the way in confidently. Since no one else was there, they took time to look at all the amenities and check out all three bedrooms. It was small but comfortable.

 

“I like it,” Stiles said, and Derek hummed in agreement.

 

“There’s another place a couple blocks away,” Lydia said, “so don’t make your mind up yet.”

 

The other one was a little bigger, but instead of three bedrooms there were two, with a bigger kitchen and bathroom. Derek’s mind immediately went to how he and Stiles would definitely be sharing a room, and wondered if Stiles would object to having just one bed. He jerked himself away from that thought a second later guiltily, but Stiles was smiling softly, and Lydia looked between the two of them with a knowing look. “We’ve still got a few months to decide,” she said. “I figured you two would move in around October or November and I can move in August.  Neither of these places is available till July anyways, so we can put in a request then.”

 

“What’s rent like?” Stiles thought to ask.

 

“This place would be cheaper in the long run,” Lydia admitted. “Rent’s higher, but utilities are paid for with it.”

 

It was going on four when they got back to the campus. “Thanks, Lyds,” Stiles said, giving her a swift hug.

 

She waved a hand. “I’m just happy you’re going to be here,” she said. “Both of you.”

 

That night, Stiles fell asleep so close to Derek that he had to lift his arm for Stiles to press closer. He hid his smile in Stiles’ hair.

 

**

 

Liam and Malia both came around every few days, and a few times Stiles went out with one or both of them. Sometimes Derek tagged along, but he mostly spent his time alone volunteering at the Beacon County animal shelter or working part-time at the library.

 

It was one of these days in the library that Scott came in. Derek identified him without even looking up, but kept reshelving books as if he hadn’t noticed. He could tell Scott was surprised when he came upon him and sighed inwardly. For the alpha of Beacon Hills, Scott still didn’t use his senses the way he should. He was going to get them all killed one day if he wasn’t careful.

 

When Scott stayed where he was, Derek spoke up. “What is it, Scott?”

 

“Liam told me you moved in with Stiles and his dad.”

 

Derek nodded, and when Scott still didn’t move, he looked up. “Do you need help finding something?”

 

“I—well, yeah, but I wanted to talk to you too.” Scott shuffled his feet a little nervously. “I wanted to explain.”

 

“Explain what?”

 

“Why I made Stiles leave.” His voice was a little tinged with desperation, like he needed Derek to understand his side of the story. White-hot rage rose up in him and he forced it down. “I don’t know what he’s told you—”

 

“He hasn’t told me anything,” Derek interrupted him. “Get to the point.”

 

“Look, awhile back, this guy was after Stiles and his dad,” Scott said in a rush. “I had a plan, I was going to make him leave, but…I don’t know what happened, but Stiles said he didn’t have a choice, and the guy wound up dead. I didn’t—Stiles _killed_ him, Derek, and I couldn’t—I trusted Stiles.”

 

Derek felt his eyes flare blue and didn’t stop them. “That’s why you made Stiles leave?” His voice was deadly quiet, he could feel how close he was to losing it, but he didn’t care. “Because he defended himself and his father? Because he didn’t have any other choice?”

 

“There’s always another choice,” Scott said quietly, stubbornly.

 

“Not in a moment like that, Scott!” Derek was still whispering, but a hint of a growl was coming through and he had to let go of the book he was holding to avoid shredding it to ribbons. “Do you have any idea what blind panic feels like? How it feels to be standing right next to death and have no fucking idea how to avoid it? God, you should, you’ve been in that position enough times!” Scott opened his mouth, but he bowled right over him. “What about me, huh? I’ve killed people and you forgave me, or at least didn’t make _me_ go anywhere when I couldn’t! I’ve done _so much worse_ than Stiles has, I killed my whole family, I killed Boyd, I almost lit Chris Argent on fucking fire!”

 

“None of that was your fault,” Scott said angrily, just as quiet, but noticeably shaking. “You were manipulated and used, you weren’t in your own head. Stiles was perfectly lucid!”

 

“He trusted you. He almost died back in Chicago, Scott, don’t you understand that? Because he’s connected to you, every wolf and hunter in the country must know that by now through the network, and you—you didn’t protect him. You were his alpha, he was your responsibility!”

 

Scott didn’t have anything else to say.

 

“Get away from me,” Derek said, turning away and willing his eyes back to green, his claws to become human nails again. Scott left, and he had to close his eyes and just breathe for a second.

 

**

 

Derek didn’t go back to the Stilinskis’ until almost three in the morning, after a long run in full shift and then half an hour to find his clothes again. He let himself in through Stiles’ window and found him waiting up, turning his phone over in his hands. “Hey,” he murmured in the dark. “Malia said she caught your scent in the woods. You okay?”

 

Derek shook his head and sank onto the bed, head in his hands. Stiles touched his shoulder and he sank into it, unable to help himself. “Alright,” Stiles whispered, and in a moment he had arranged them both so that Stiles was leaning against the headboard with Derek between his legs, back to chest. Derek tipped his head back to Stiles’ shoulder and closed his eyes, trying to stop the tremors before they could start. But he was shaking anyways, fingers clenching open and closed and he couldn’t stop. He jerked when Stiles laced their fingers together and crossed his arms over Derek’s chest, pulling him further into him. He pressed his mouth to Derek’s temple and just breathed, in and out, until Derek was breathing with him. “Okay?” Stiles asked softly.

 

Derek nodded, eyes slipping shut as he relaxed.

 

They were silent for a long time, almost enough for Derek to fall asleep, but he was pretty sure he owed Stiles an explanation for coming in so late and then almost panicking all over him. “I ran into Scott,” he said so quietly he almost couldn’t hear himself, but Stiles stiffened behind him. “He told me what happened.”

 

“You mean what I did,” Stiles responded bitterly. His arms loosened like he was giving Derek a chance to get away, so he tightened his hands and turned so he could press his nose into Stiles’ cheek.

 

“You did what you had to.”

 

“Scott doesn’t see it that way.”

 

“Well Scott can go fuck himself.” At Stiles’ startled laugh, he continued, completely serious. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Stiles. You only did what you had to.”

 

Stiles buried his face in Derek’s neck.

 

**

 

Waking up with his nose in Stiles’ hair and his arm draped over him would probably become Derek’s new favorite thing.

 

He would prefer if it didn’t involve looking up to see the sheriff staring down at the two of them with a knowing smile. “I, uh…”

 

“I made breakfast,” Sheriff Stilinski said. “I’ve got to head to work. You boys good?”

 

Derek desperately wished Stiles would wake up right about now, but he settled for slowly drawing his arm away and putting a respectable distance between the two of them. He cleared his throat in the hope that it would wake Stiles. It didn’t. “I, uh, yeah.” He swallowed. “I think so.”

 

The sheriff chuckled. “Go back to sleep,” he said softly. “I’ll be home around seven.”

 

And Derek was startled to discover that it was almost ten in the morning.

 

When Sheriff Stilinski left, he shook Stiles gently. “Wake up.”

 

“No,” Stiles mumbled into the pillow, turning onto his stomach and away from Derek.

 

“I think it might be important that your dad just walked in here and saw us…”

 

“Cuddling?” Stiles twisted his head enough to raise an eyebrow at Derek without even opening his eyes (why was that kind of adorable?). “Dude, we’ve been sharing a bed for almost two months. Now is not the time to be concerned about my dad.” He flopped back down. “Go back to sleep.”

 

“It’s almost ten.”

 

“Neither of us fell asleep until almost five thirty, Derek,” Stiles groaned. “You’re allowed to sleep late in that case. It’s not like we have jobs to get to.”

 

“The library…"

 

“Is part time, and you’re not scheduled today.”

 

Derek frowned. “How d’you know that?”

 

“May called me to say I should take you on a date today.” Stiles’ heartbeat tripped a little before settling. “She said she gave you today off specifically for spending time with me. I tried to tell her we aren’t together, but she wasn’t having it. Said she’d keep it secret.” He kept his face in the pillow the whole time, probably to avoid looking at Derek. “So can we sleep now, please? Because I’m not functional right now. I experienced a lot of guilt and anger all over again last night. Sleep is the only cure.”

  
“I thought ice cream was the cure,” Derek said thoughtfully.

 

“Ice cream’s the cure for breakups,” Stiles corrected him sleepily. “Lay back down.”

 

So Derek lowered himself to his side next to Stiles again, contemplating the back of his head for a few seconds before scooting closer and throwing an arm across his back. Stiles let out a soft noise of approval and wriggled closer.


End file.
